Russia’s Medvedev echoes Stalin in party exhortation

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev dipped into Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s lexicon to tell the ruling United Russia party on Saturday that it should not take success for granted in a December parliamentary election.

Medvedev, a critic of Stalin’s deadly excesses, was trying to encourage United Russia to work hard to win seats in the State Duma, the lower parliament house, amid flagging popular support from Russians tired of its entrenched position.

“It is important for a party not to feel superior,” Medvedev told United Russia activists in the southern city of Krasnodar. “As soon as one feels superior, you get what the classic called ‘dizzy with success.'”

In an article titled “Dizzy with Success” in the Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda in 1930, Stalin criticized party officials for perceived errors in implementing his agricultural collectivization campaign.